Emily Hough, 28, and Jamie Elbeck, 31, were left disheartened after they couldn’t find a three-bed property for less than £300,000 – meaning they would be paying £2,000 per month
A couple are ditching their hefty £2,000 monthly mortgage in the UK for a life in a Vietnamese Airbnb that costs a mere £260 per month. Emily Hough, 28, and Jamie Elbeck, 31, were on the hunt to move homes but were taken aback when they couldn’t spot a three-bedroom property under £300,000 – equating to £2,000 each month.
With yearly nursery fees of £500 for their three-year-old Edison and one-year-old Nola, plus a £600 monthly shopping bill and £712 for utilities, the family was “tired of spending money”. Jamie, who supervises a warehouse, was also “fed up” with his long workweeks and scant time with his children.
The pair made the bold choice to sell all their possessions – now sitting on a travel fund of £90,000 after offloading their three-bedroom house for £70,000 and their furniture and clothes for £20,000. They’re currently serving their notice periods, gearing up to embark on a one-way trip to Vietnam this September – with no plans to return.
Emily, a Sunderland-based travel agent, said: “We’re going to be living from a backpack – all our family and friends are saying we’re crazy, but our kids are going to be world-schooled. It came about after realising we weren’t spending any quality time together, nursery fees were going up and the mortgage was going up.
“I thought to myself: ‘This isn’t the life I wanted’. Jamie pulled me aside one day and just said: ‘Let’s just sell everything and go travelling’.”
The couple first developed their wanderlust after meeting in Tenerife in 2017, while Emily was employed by Tui and Jamie worked in a bar. They subsequently had Edison and Nola in 2021 and 2023, respectively, secured full-time employment and settled into a nine-to-five routine.
In 2025, Emily and Jamie were considering securing a mortgage on a new house – but were stunned to find they couldn’t obtain a property cheaper than £300,000.
Emily added: “We were looking for a three-bedroom house, when Jamie randomly said: ‘I need to talk to you’. He told me he was fed up with only seeing the kids on weekends due to his 40-hour work week.
“Then he said he had a mad idea – to just sell everything and go travelling. I was in no doubt I wanted to do that, I’d become so bored of the routine.”
The pair handed in their notices, with Emily working four weeks and Jamie working three months. In order to fund their travels, the couple have sold their house for £70,000, as well as other possessions, like furniture and clothes, bringing the travel fund total to £90,000.
Their new nomadic lifestyle will see each family member living from a rucksack as they journey across South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. Apart from spending £130 for the first two weeks of accommodation in an Airbnb in Da Nang, Vietnam, and £1,600 on four one-way tickets from Heathrow, Emily and Jamie have no clue what they’re going to do when they arrive.
“We’re just going to see where the wind takes us,” she added. “We know it’s a big risk – and we find it more exciting that we haven’t got a to-do list.
“I can’t wait to immerse the kids in the culture; try them with new foods like octopus, take them around the night markets and get up with the sun.”
After the first year, Emily and Jamie plan to sustain themselves through various freelance and part-time jobs. Emily has completed a level five TEFL course, which will allow her to teach English as a foreign language in different countries.
Jamie is hopeful of finding work creating and editing content for clients. The couple have pledged never to return to the UK, opting instead for a life on the road.
“I’ve taken the kids out of nursery – you can educate your kids on the world around them,” Emily said. “We’re excited to spend time with the family and really connect – with the nine-to-five routine, you only get a couple of hours together per day.
“Our plan is never to come back to the UK, we’re just going to find a country we fit in with. We’re just a normal family and we want to make it work.”